Excerpts from Book 2: Fall of a Dynasty
by NarundiJedi
Summary: I have no better way to start to write this than to release random parts of it for people and for them to tell me what they think. So, here's book 2


Disclaimer: All characters and events pertaining to the Star Wars universe are George Lucas' and not my own. Even my own characters might not be my own since some of them seem an awful lot like a cross between Han Solo, Kyp Durron, and Corran Horn. Just to warn ya ;-) Of course, Han, Kyp and Corran will be in there, but not until later excerpts. So enjoy!  
  
Two Years Later . . .  
  
Brodaeus Narundi leaned back in the pilot's seat, carefully placing his boots up on the control panel. He steepled his fingers underneath his chin while gazing out the viewport at the multicolored swirls of hyperspace. It was amazing how such a beautiful thing could be regarded as boring if seen all the time.  
  
I"Narundi, if this shipment doesn't reach its destination on time, it's your rear end out on the street!"/I  
  
Brodey blew his bangs out of his eyes in frustration as his boss' comment echoed in his mind. Working for Hutts definitely had its down points. They had little tolerance for lateness. Brodey couldn't blame them for that, especially when it came to the cargo of illegal glitterstim spice he was transporting. The less time it spent in transit, the better.  
  
Sensing his legs beginning to cramp up, Brodey got up from his chair and walked over to the refresher unit. He stumbled in, casting a glance at his haggard appearance in the mirror. His chin was covered with a layer of blond stubble, but the grease from the ship's engine made it appear dark. A smirk crossed Brodey's lips as he realized it had been at least a day since he last showered or shaved. His clothes were well worn and rumpled, the clothes of a common smuggler trying to make a quick buck with a fast ship.  
  
'If only father could see me now, he'd throw a fit,' Brodey noted solemnly.  
  
Brodey shook his head violently, dismissing the thought. He enjoyed this new life of his, this anonymity. Especially with the Yuuzhan Vong and the Peace Brigade out hunting down jedi. As more and more worlds fell to the Vong his job became increasingly dangerous, but it was still better to be a smuggler than a jedi prince in this war.  
  
He started over to his sleeping pallet, hoping he could close his eyes for a bit, when he caught sight of a familiar bundle stuffed in a compartment under his dresser. Brodey reached down and grabbed the bag, emptying its contents out onto his sleeping pallet. The jeweled handle of his lightsaber still glimmered in the dim light of the ship's cabin and the metal felt cold to the touch as he slid his fingers along the etched grooves of the weapon's grip. His thumb longed to push the ignition switch and hear the familiar hum of the blade. He longed to feel the energy of the weapon vibrate through him, to feel the force that constantly surrounded him, but every time he made an attempt to reach out he felt a cold blanket of depression and anger fall over him. The voices of those he had lost screamed accusingly in his ears, yelling that if he'd been more responsible then he could have saved them. Images of his brother and sister, staring sadly at him with their liquid blue-green eyes, of his father standing stony-faced with his arms crossed over his chest in anger, of his mother . . .  
  
Brodey shoved the weapon back into the bag, along with the force pike, the holocron, and a dusty old photo album. He returned them hurriedly to their previous hiding spot, a look of disgust on his face. Given the choice between having no connection to the force and turning to the dark side, Brodey easily chose having no connection. The force still flowed too easily through him for him to completely ignore it, taunting him with pain and bad memories as it went, but if he turned it off as best he could he could do no harm.  
  
'I've already done enough of that for one lifetime,' Thought Brodey as he lay down across the thin sleeping pallet and closed his eyes.  
  
A jolt coursed through Brodey that rocketed him straight upright in bed. In a momentary wave of confusion he wondered if he'd calculated the hyperspace coordinates wrong and was flying into an asteroid field. Then he realized that the tingling sensation he felt was internal in nature. The force had woken him up, but the reason for that was still unclear to Brodey. He reached out tentatively, trying to get a sense of what could be going wrong. In his mind he saw a medium size passenger ship being tailed closely by a squadron of Yuuzhan Vong fighters. The pilot skillfully dodged most of their fire, but the odds were clearly against him.  
  
"I can't hold them off for much longer!" The pilot screamed out to no one in particular.  
  
Brodey's eyes narrowed as the words echoed through his mind, and a cold sweat built up on the back of his neck. Whatever was happening to this pilot seemed to be of great significance to the force, and before he even knew what was going on Brodey had run over to the controls and deactivated the hyperdrive.  
  
He came out right in the middle of one of the most lopsided space battles in history. Eleven Vong coralskippers were concentrating their fire on one tiny passenger spacecraft. Brodey immediately grabbed the controls, hoping he could improve the odds a bit for the pilot and give the Yuuzhan Vong a good shock before he blew them to smithereens.  
  
"I got your back buddy, don't worry about a thing," Brodey muttered at the passenger ship as he moved into attack formation. The IStingray/I came equipped with enough firepower to take on ten times the number of Vong fighters present and it was twice as fast. Brodey demonstrated the ship's capabilities and his own as he fired a proton torpedo into the hull of one fighter and then ducked out of the way as two more fighters swooped down upon him. He dove into a barrel roll, confusing the two that were coming straight at him. Brodey grinned triumphantly as they collided with each other in a smoldering cloud of spacedust.  
  
OK, so I don't have any more written. That's because I haven't had the time and I have writer's block besides. Somebody HELP ME and tell me what you think about all this! Thanks ( 


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